1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved passive restraint including a safety belt for use in a vehicle seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A vehicle such as an automobile is generally equipped with a passive restraint including a safety belt in order to secure the safety of an occupant when the vehicle is given a shock due to its collision or the like.
When such passive restraint is structured such that the occupant is able to adjust the position of his or her seat while the occupant is restricted or such that an anchor on the free end side of the safety or seat belt is positioned in a vehicle door or a vehicle wall, a retractor must be mounted on the seat side or within a cushion frame. When the retractor is installed within the cushion frame, however, if it is located on the lower surface side of a sitting portion of the seat or in a side portion opposed to an input portion of the seat belt, the retractor may be abutted against the lower surface of a seat pad forming the sitting portion, or the seat belt may be brought into contact with the same lower surface after it has run across the seat pad, which gives the occupant a strange feeling when the occupant is going to sit and provides an obstacle to the operation of the safety belt. In this case, the tension of the seat belt also generates input forces to a seat frame at both of its right and left portions so that a collapsing pressure is applied to the seat frame. Therefore, since the cushion frame is required to have a sufficient strength to withstand such collapsing load, every part of the cushion frame must be formed of a thicker material for reinforcement, which is disadvantagous in that the weight of the cushion frame itself is increased.
Also, in assembling such conventional passive restraint, the safety belt must be introduced externally through an insertion bore formed in a side surface of the cushion frame. Especially, it is difficult to pass a large-sized buckle mounted at the free end of the seat belt. As a result of this, it takes much trouble to assemble such prior art device.